Automatic cuber



March 29, 1966 P. GAGNON ETAL 3,243,055

AUTOMATIC CUBER Filed April 19, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 llll llllllllllllllll my] W) l lel'l'e Fig. 11 Pierre LAFOREST PATENT AGENT March 29, 1966 P. GAGNON ETAL AUTOMATIC cussn 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 19, 1962 IL fiI 5 M r 4 A A PM W 9 5 H we P f 6 6 3 .m Q

March 29, 1966 P. GAGNON ETAL AUTOMATIC CUBER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 19, 1962 I! w I IN VEN TORS Pierre GAG/VON Pierre LAFOREST u/ QM PATENT AGENT United States Patent 3,243,056 AUTOMATIC CUBER Pierre Gagnon and Pierre Laforest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, assignors to Paco Corporation, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Apr. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 188,730 3 Claims. (Cl. 214-6) The present invention relates to a method and means for automatically stacking or cubing a plurality of block shaped objects on pallets or the like, so as to obtain so called cubes of such objects suitable for handling, storing and shipping.

The present invention is more particularly concerned with concrete blocks, although the machine can be used for other types of block shaped objects, such as cardboard shipping containers, and the like objects of uniform size and having a length which is a multiple of their width.

The general object of the invention resides in the provision of a new method for effecting cubing of block shaped objects so as to obtain so called cubes of any desired shape and in which the layers of the blocks are in accordance with any desired pattern.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a machine for effecting cubing which is completely automatic in operation.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the machine of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the inlet end of the machine;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the machine;

FIGURES 5 to 11 inclusive show different stages of the operation of the means for forming a block layer;

FIGURE 12 is a partial perspective view of the conveyor assembly;

7 FIGURE 13 is a partial longitudinal section of the same;

and

FIGURE 14 is a cross section along line 1414 of FIGURE 13.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate like elements throughout, the machine of the invention generally comprises framework, and platework of generally box-like shape and including front and back corner legs 1 and 2 united together at the top of the machine and defining between themselves an inlet opening 3, an outlet opening 4, and side openings 5, all of said openings extending down to the supporting floor and being of generally rectangular shape.

On the front face of the machine over the inlet opening 3 is secured a feeding conveyor 6 for concrete blocks or similar block shaped objects to be arranged into stacks or cubes.

This assembly 6 comprises generally a pair of spaced parallel vertically disposed plates 7 rigidly secured together by spacer and tie rods (not shown) and between which ride on guide rails 8 secured to the inside face of plates 7 two chains of links 8' interconnected by shafts 3" journalled in links 8 by bearings 9 and provided with wheels 9 rolling on rails 8. Buckets 9 of L-shaped cross-section are secured to links 8 and are adapted to receive concrete blocks 10 on one side of the machine, as shown in FIG- URE 2, from a loading station 11. The conveyor assem- Patented Mar. 29, 1966 forated endless paper tape 14 positively driven in step-like manner through a head 15 which has spring urged pins which when passing through the perforations of the tape, actuate micro-switches in head 15. Head 15 is manufactured by the Friden Company and is normally part of their automatic writing machines known under the trade name F lexowriter. The switches of head 15 control hydraulic valves for the stopping and starting of the hydraulic motor driving the conveyor assembly 6. The tape 14 also automatically controls all the other functions of the machine in the desired sequence and in accordance with a predetermined program for given patterns of the layers of a cube.

When the conveyor 6 is stopped, there is always a bucket 9 with its outer flange in horizontal position protruding from the side of the machine ready to receive a concrete block 10 at loading station 11. The conveyor 6 may be driven so that each successive bucket 9 will stop at loading station 11, or that several buckets 9 will move past loading station 11 in accordance with the predetermined program. The blocks 10 are fed to selected ones of the buckets 9 stopped at loading station 11 by means under the control of the above-noted tape 14 and head 15. Said means may, for instance, consist of a pusher member operated by a cylinder and piston unit, not shown, in the direction of arrow 11' of FIGURE 2. The blocks 10 are fed with their through bores in vertical position as they come out from the concrete block curing chamber. Upon rotation of the conveyor 6, the blocks are turned sideways through such that the blocks in the buckets 9 in the topmost run of the assembly 6 have their through bores in horizontal position. Buckets 9 bring the blocks at sweeping stations 16 and at inactive stations 52 in which the buckets are level with a table 17 which is supported by the legs 1.

A sweeper assembly 18 serves to transfer the blocks 10 at the sweeping stations 16 within the buckets 9 of the top run of the conveyor 6 from said buckets onto the transfer table 17.

The sweeper assembly comprises a rigid frame 19 extending at the top of the machine (see FIGURES 1 to 4) and consisting of longitudinal channel members 20 pivoted at 21 at their free ends to the top back transverse beam 22 of the framework of the machine. The legs 20 are interconnected at the inlet end of the machine by front and back transverse beams 23 and 24. Front beam 23 protrudes laterally from legs 20 and is pivotally connected at its ends to hydraulic cylinder and piston units 25 pivotally connected at their lower ends to table 17.

A wheeled carriage 26 has rollers 26' engaging the channel legs 20 of frame 19 and is movable longitudinally of the machine under action of double acting hydraulic cylinder and piston unit 27 pivoted at its ends to carriage 26 and to transverse member 24 of the frame 19. Carriage 26 is reinforced by plate 28 and carries a transverse member 31 which is provided with integral downwardly extending spaced fingers 32 adapted to sweep across the buckets 9 in the sweeping stations 16. Carriage 26 further carries, parallel to and spaced forwardly from fingers 32, an imperforate sweeping plate 33 which also depends downwardly from the carriage 26 and terminates at the same level as the lower edges of fingers 32. Pingers 32 and sweeping plate 33 extend substantially the entire width of table 17. They make alternating back and front movements under action of hydraulic unit 27 which actuates carriage 26 which rolls in channel legs 20. They also make an up and down movement, because the carrier frame 19 is oscillatable about its pivots 21 under action of the pair of hydraulic cylinder and piston units 25. Thus, the sweeping active stroke of fingers 32 and sweeping plate 33 is indicated by arrow 34 in FIG- URE 3 and their return stroke is indicated by arrow 35.

Rotatable discs or turntables 36 are mounted in circular holes made within table 17 and are flush with said table. Discs 36 are mounted for rotation in a horizontal plane about the axes of central supporting shafts 37 and are rotated through 90 in unison through the action of a common link 38 pivoted to the respective discs at 39, link 38 being actuated by a double acting hydraulic cylinder and piston unit 40, disposed underneath table 17. Discs 36 are evenly spaced from each other and their shafts are parallel to the inlet edge of the table 17 and also to the sweeping stations 16.

An elevator assembly 41 is vertically movable in accordance with double arrow 42 of FIGURE 3, within an elevator well defined between the corner legs 2 and the front of the table 17. Elevator assembly 41 is described and claimed in applicants co-pending application Serial No. 192,799, filed May 7, 1962 for Elevator System, now Patent No. 3,149,732.

Elevator assembly 41 comprises a main frame consisting of two spaced I-beams 43 extending transversely of the machine and interconnected at their ends by transverse beams 44. This main frame is suspended at the four corners thereof, that is at the ends of transverse beams 44 by four cables 45 trained on pulleys 46 at the top of the machine and pulled by a suitable hydraulic and cylinder piston unit (not shown) disposed underneath the table 17. The ends of beams 44 are guided within vertical angle irons disposed within corner legs 2 and at the front corners of table 17. A pair of spaced parallel pusher blades 47 depend from wheeled carriages (not shown) in rolling engagement with the I-beams 43 and are movable towards and away from each other under action of reversible hydraulic and cylinder piston units (not shown). Another pair of wheeled carriages (not shown) carry dependent horizontal drawer plates 48 which in their closed position abut each other at their inner free edge at the center of the elevator assembly 6 and which are adapted to move outwardly through side openings of the machine body under action of hydraulic units 49.

The elevator assembly 41 is adapted to move vertically between an uppermost position in which the drawer plates 48 are level with transfer table 17 and a lowermost position with the closed drawer plates 48 resting directly on top of a pallet 56 supported by a truck 51 or on any other vehicle or conveyor. The elevator assembly can obviously be stopped at any other intermediate level.

The hydraulic cylinder and piston units of the elevator assembly and of the sweeper assembly 18 together with the hydraulic motor of the conveyor assembly 6 and the drives of other transfer devices for feeding the blocks to the buckets 9 at the loading station 11, are fed with fluid under hydraulic pressure by a suitable power driven hydraulic pump (not shown) and are all controlled by electro-mechanical valves in turn under the control of the program tape 14. Thus, the opeartion of the machine is completely automatic. The machine further has electric switches for sensing the limit positions of the various units and incorporated in an electric circuit which receives orders from the tape. The electric and hydraulic circuits have not been shown in the drawings, as these are of conventional construction. The machine of the present invention operates as follows.

A series of wheeled trucks 51 or a conveyor or any other means pass through inlet and outlet openings 3 and 4 and preferably support a series of pallets 50. One such pallet 50 is positioned underneath the elevator assembly 41 which is in turn raised to its uppermost position with its pusher blades 47 in open position and its drawer plates 48 in closed position and level with table 17.

Concrete blocks discharged from a curing chamber, or other objects of block shape, are fed one by one tothe loading station 11 and into buckets 9 which then rotate to turn the blocks sideways, as previously described, and position the same at the sweeping stations 16 and/or inactive stations 52.

arrows 53 through to turn the blocks thereon.

Then the sweeper assembly 18 in conjunction with the discs or turntables 36 operate to form a layer of blocks on the elevated elevator assembly 41, the drawer plates 48 being level with platform or table 17. FIGURES 5 to 11 show the formation of a typical layer of blocks on the elevator. In the embodiment shown, it will be noted that there are eight sweeping stations 16 represented by the fingers 32 of the sweeping assembly and four inactive stations 52 between fingers 32. Stations 16 and 52 each correspond to buckets 9 when stopped. There is a pair of fingers 32 opposite each disc 36. Each finger of the three pairs is adapted to push a block 10 onto the disc with the center of the block at the height of the rotational axis of the disc and laterally offsetfrom said axis. Intermediate the three pairs of fingers 32 and between them and the outermost fingers, there is preferably no finger although bucketscan position blocks in the thus defined inactive stations 52.

At the start of the operation, three blocks 10a are positioned at the sweeping stations 16, as shown in FIG- URE 5. The first blocks 10a are loaded on a bucket 9 at loading station 11, the conveyor 6 is moved through the extent of two buckets 9, another block 10a is loaded, the conveyor 6 is moved the extent of three buckets 9, and the last block 16a is loaded. Blocks 10a are intended to form a first row of the first layer of the cube. The conveyor 6 is then moved so as to bring blocks 10a at the stations 16, as indicated in FIGURE 5, While stopping at predetermined intervals to load blocks 10b for the second row of the layer. Upon forward movement of the fingers 32, blocks 10a in the position of FIGURE 5 are pushed by said fingers 32 onto the table 17 and discs 36 as shown in FIGURE 6, the blocks remaining in a row. The discs 36 are rotated in accordance with At the end of their forward stroke, the fingers 32 are lifted, as shown by arrow 35 in FIGURE 3, and return back to their rearmost positions in order to clear the new blocks 10!; which are positioned by the conveyor 6, as shown in FIGURES 5, 6, at the sweeping stations 16. The fingers 32 move over the blocks and drop rearwardly of the same in accordance with arrow 35 of FIG- URE 3. During the next forward stroke of the sweeper assembly, the blocks 10a 011 the table 17 and discs 36 are swept forwardly by the sweeping plate 33 and pushed onto the drawers 48 of the elevator assembly 41 to form a third row. Simultaneously, the new blocks 10b at the sweeping station 16 are pushed by fingers 32 onto the table 17 and discs 36, as shown in FIGURE 7. However, the discs are not rotated and during the next sweeping movement of the plate 33, these blocks remain in a longitudinal direction and push the transversely located blocks 10a which are already on the drawers 48. It will be noted that the transverse blocks 10a overlap the next pair of the longitudinal blocks 10b and are thus pushed equally by said blocks. During the return stroke of the sweeper assembly, the latter is lifted sufiiciently by the hydraulic units 25, such that the sweeping plate 33 clear the blocks 10b on the table 17 and discs 36, while fingers 32 clear the blocks within the buckets 9. The operation is continued to feed blocks 10c as shown in FIGURES 7 and 8 which push the blocks 10a, 10]) already on elevator drawers 48, and finally a last group of blocks 10d is formed by rotating the discs 36 through 90 in the opposite direction, as shown by arrow 54 (FIGURE 9). Thus, a complete layer is formed on the drawers 48, as shown in FIGURE 1O.

It will be noted that during the formation of said layer, all the blocks were pushed along separate longitudinal courses and there was no rubbing between the blocks which is an important feature of the machine of the invention, due to the fact that concrete blocks can chip easily.

Once a complete layer has been assembled on the drawers 48, the elevator assembly 41 starts to move downwardly and simultaneously the pusher blades 47 of said elevator assembly 41 (see FIGURE move inwardly to bring the blocks together and complete the layer, as shown in FIGURE 11. During this movement, it will be noted that there is a minimum rubbing between the blocks, the longitudinal blocks moving with respect to the transverse blocks only to the extent of one half block.

The elevator assembly 41 moves down until its drawers 48 are in contact with pallet 50, the pusher blades still applying compressing force on the blocks of the layer and the pusher blades 47 move outwardly to retract from underneath the layer of blocks whereby the latter are gently deposited onto the pallet 50. The elevator assembly then moves upwardly and its drawers 48 close and move up to the level of the table 17 while the pusher blades 47 move outwardly whereby the elevator assembly is ready to receive the next layer of blocks.

In the formation of the layer just described, it will be noted that the left hand course of blocks are all longitudinally aligned and these blocks were fed by the extreme left hand finger 32 directly over the transfer table 17, while the remaining blocks of the layer were fed across the discs 36 with the blocks of the first and last rows turned through 90". During the formation of this layer, the right hand disc 36 and three adjacent fingers 32 were inoperative. For the next layer, the order may be reversed, that is the course of longitudinal blocks will be formed on the right hand side of the layer. In this case, the center disc and the right 'hand disc will be used together with their associated fingers and the outermost right hand finger 32. FIGURES 9, 10 and 11 show blocks 10a, 10b starting to form such a layer.

During operation of the elevator assembly to transfer a completed layer onto a pallet 50, the conveyor assembly 6 continues to feed blocks in readiness for the formation of the next layer. In order to increase the rapidity of operation of the machine, blocks can be arranged in the buckets 9 ahead of the blocks of the preceding row; so as to take a position at the inactive stations 52 during sweeping of the blocks of the preceding row. For instance blocks 10d in FIGURE 7 could have been advanced six stations with the leading block 10d positioned at inactive station 52' ahead of the leading block 100, and the two remaining blocks 10d positioned at inactive stations 52" and 52" respectively.

A cube is formed on the truck 50 by successively depositing layers of blocks arranged in different patterns. Once a cube is formed on the truck 50, the truck 51 is removed, and a new truck and pallet positioned under the elevator assembly and the formation of another cube is started.

A typical cube may be as follows: A bottom layer of blocks all longitudinally arranged, a second layer, such.

as that shown in FIGURE 11, a third layer similar to that of FIGURE 11 but in reverse arrangement with the course of longitudinal blocks on the right hand side, a repetition of the second and third layers and a topmost layer similar to the bottom layer.

Obviously, any pattern and any order of patterns can be obtained with the arrangement of the present invention by simply changing the positions of the perforations on the control tape 14. It will also be noted that the machine with slight modifications may make larger layers and of square as well as rectangular shape.

Although the machine described is especially adapted for cubing concrete blocks, in which their length is twice their width, it is obvious that it may be used for cubing other block-shaped objects the length of which is a multiple of their width.

While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention has been illustrated and described, it is under- 6 stood that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A cubing machine for stacking block shaped objects of a uniform sizeand of a length equal to a multiple of their width to form a cube of several layers of such objects with selected ones of said objects disposed transversely of the remaining objects in accordance with a predetermined pattern varying from layer to layer, said machine comprising a table, spaced discs flush with said table and rotatable in holes made in said table, means to rotate said disc through at least means to feed said objects along an edge of said table into spaced apart sweeping stations and intervening inactive stations to form a first row of objects in said stations, sweeper means to simultaneously transfer only said objects at said sweeping stations onto said table and discs to form a second row of spaced objects, the objects on said discs being turned transversely to the remaining objects of the second row upon rotation of said discs, an elevator platform vertically movable between a lower position and an uppermost position level with said table, additional sweeping means to transfer said objects of said second row onto said elevated elevator platform to form a third row of objects, successive objects pushed by said additional sweeping means onto said elevator plaftorm abutting and in turn pushing the objects in the third row until a layer of objects is formed on said elevated elevator platform in spaced apart courses, pusher means operable to push said spaced apart courses of objects together so that all the objects of said layer are in contact with one another, lowering of said elevator platform enabling to trans fer said thus formed layer of objects to a lower level and deposit said layer onto a supporting surface underlying the same, said sweeper means including a guide frame extending over said table and said feed means and pivotally mounted on said machine at one end for vertical oscillatable movement, first power means to oscillate said guide frame in a vertical plane, a carriage mounted on said guide frame for reciprocable longitudinal movement relative to said guide frame, second power means for reciprocating said carriage along said guide frame, downwardly depending fingers carried by said carriage and movable upon operation of said first and second power means through an active sweeping stroke across and just above said feeding means and table to push blocks from said feeding stations onto said table and discs, and through a return stroke including an upward movement clearing new blocks in said feeding stations and a downward movement to take a position behind said new blocks.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said additional sweeping means include a plate downwardly depending from said carriage and parallel to said fingers and spaced from the same and engageable behind the blocks of said second row to push the same onto said elevator platform during the active stroke of said carriage, said plate movable upwardly to clear new blocks in said second row during return stroke of said carriage.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said multiple is the numeral two and wherein each disc is associated with a pair of sweeping stations in longitudinal alignment with each disc on each side of the rotational axis of said disc, the blocks transferred from said pair of sweeping stations onto said discs taking a position with their center in transverse alignment with the rotation axis of said disc, whereby upon rotation of said discs, the blocks thereon will describe an arc of a circle to take a transverse position overlapping the end faces of succeeding blocks positioned on said discs.

(References on following page) 7 8 References Cited by the Examiner 2,942,717 6/ 1960 Raynor.

2,944,687 7/1960 Segur et a1 "214-152 UNITED STATES PATENTS 219771002 3/1961 p- 9/1925 L 2,997,187 8/1961 Burt.

5/ 1932 Fuller et 5 3,059,786 10/1962 Lissirnore.

11/1936 Woodruff 214-152 lfid. GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

I ers. 8/1959 Thomas MORRIS TEMIN, Examiner. 4/1960 Edmonds et a1 214-43 10 J. L. JONES, M. WOLSON, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A CUBING MACHINE FOR STACKING BLOCK SHAPED OBJECTS OF A UNIFORM SIZE AND OF A LENGTH EQUAL TO A MULTIPLE OF THEIR WIDTH TO FORM A CUBE OF SEVERAL LAYERS OF SUCH OBJECTS WITH SELECTED ONES OF SAID OBJECTS DISPOSED TRANSVERSELY OF THE REMAINING OBJECTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH A PREDETERMINED PATTERN VARYING FROM LAYER TO LAYER, SAID MACHINE COMPRISING A TABLE, SPACED DISCS FLUSH WITH SAID TABLE AND ROTATABLE IN HOLES MADE IN SAID TABLE, MEANS TO ROTATE SAID DISC THROUGH AT LEAST 90*, MEANS TO FEED SAID OBJECTS ALONG AN EDGE OF SAID TABLE INTO SPACED APART SWEEPING STATIONS AND INTERVENING INACTIVE STATIONS TO FORM A FIRST ROW OF OBJECTS IN SAID STATIONS, SWEEPER MEANS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY TRANSFER ONLY SAID OBJECTS AT SAID SWEEPING STATIONS ONTO SAID TABLE AND DISCS TO FORM A SECOND ROW OF SPACED OBJECTS, THE OBJECTS ON SAID DISCS BEING TURNED TRANSVERSELY TO THE REMAINING OBJECTS OF THE SECOND ROW UPON ROTATION OF SAID DISCS, AN ELEVATOR PLATFORM VERTICALLY MOVABLE BETWEEN A LOWER POSITION AND AN UPPERMOST POSITION LEVEL WITH SAID TABLE, ADDITIONAL SWEEPING MEANS TO TRANSFER SAID OBJECTS OF SAID SECOND ROW ONTO SAID ELEVATED ELEVATOR PLATFORM TO FORM A THIRD ROW OF OBJECTS, SUCCESSIVE OBJECTS PUSHED BY SAID ADDITIONAL SWEEPING MEANS ONTO SAID ELEVATOR PLATFORM ABUTTING AND IN TURN PUSHING THE OBJECTS IN THE THIRD ROW UNTIL A LAYER OF OBJECTS IS FORMED ON SAID ELEVATED ELEVATOR PLATFORM IN SPACED APART COURSES, PUSHER MEANS OPERABLE TO PUSH SAID SPACED APART COURSES OF OBJECTS TOGETHER SO THAT ALL THE OBJECTS OF SAID LAYER ARE IN CONTACT WITH ONE ANOTHER, LOWERING OF SAID ELEVATOR PLATFORM ENABLING TO TRANSFER SAID THUS FORMED LAYER OF OBJECTS TO A LOWER LEVEL AND DEPOSIT SAID LAYER ONTO A SUPPORTING SURFACE UNDERLYING THE SAME, SAID SWEEPER MEANS INCLUDING A GUIDE FRAME EXTENDING OVER SAID TABLE AND SAID FEED MEANS AND PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID MACHINE AT ONE END FOR VERTICAL OSCILLATABLE MOVEMENT, FIRST POWER MEANS TO OSCILLATE SAID GUIDE FRAME IN A VERTICAL PLANE, A CARRIAGE MOUNTED ON SAID GUIDE FRAME FOR RECIPROCABLE LONGITUDINAL MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO SAID GUIDE FRAME, SECOND POWER MEANS FOR RECIPROCATING SAID CARRIAGE ALONG SAID GUIDE FRAME, DOWNWARDLY DEPENDING FINGERS CARRIED BY SAID CARRIAGE AND MOVABLE UPON OPERATION OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND POWER MEANS THROUGH AN ACTIVE SWEEPING STROKE ACROSS AND JUST ABOVE SAID FEEDING MEANS AND TABLE TO PUSH BLOCKS FROM SAID FEEDING STATIONS ONTO SAID TABLE AND DISCS, AND THROUGH A RETURN STROKE INCLUDING AN UPWARD MOVEMENT CLEARING NEW BLOCKS IN SAID FEEDING STATIONS AND A DOWNWARD MOVEMENT TO TAKE A POSITION BEHIND SAID NEW BLOCKS. 